Among those getting the boot is Shane Kavanagh, the brother-in-law of former state and federal Labor minister Laurie Brereton, who has been living rent-free for more than 10 years on site. Another is Mark Arblaster, a distant relative of former state Liberal MP David Arblaster.

Shane Kavanagh and his family will be evicted from their National Parks property.

Others to be evicted immediately include National Parks staff who have enjoyed peppercorn rent at residences at Gap Bluff and South Head.

The government says it is the first tranche of a redevelopment program which will evict staff tenants from Nielsen Park, Greycliff House, Middle Head and Goat Island in coming months.

There are 93 staff-occupied National Parks residences in the state with rents ranging from nothing at Barrenjoey to $3 a week at Tibooburra and up to $410 at Goat Island.

In the case of the Governor's Cottage at Nielsen Park, the rent is $242 per week - when market value is $389.

While the government believes it is fair for National Parks rangers to inhabit its cottages in remote locations, it sees no need for such arrangements in Sydney and many of its other sites.

"Ultimately, this is about giving the community greater access to some of the best locations Sydney has to offer," Environment Minister Robyn Parker said.

"We want to ensure that agreements made by the previous government that saw families live in waterfront properties in national parks rent free are no longer able to occur.

"The public and the government have a clear expectation that we use our national parks and public assets for the benefit of the whole community."

One of the National Parks properties people are being evicted from.

Mr Kavanagh and Mr Arblaster yesterday claimed the government had "failed to recognise possibly one of the longest historical connections on Sydney's northern beaches" and were ignoring local protests over development of the area.

They said their pleas to National Parks since 1995 for rental agreements to be entered into were "ignored".